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3226

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 07, 2016, 08:14 AM »

I was looking at Dave Ramsey's Offering - EveryDollar.  It looked interesting... until I looked at the privacy policy.  Then, I had the idea to look at YNAB's privacy policy.

I am never upgrading to mYNAB.

from: https://www.youneeda...t.com/privacy-policy

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

<snip />

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:

To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us about our Website users is among the assets transferred.

3227

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 05, 2016, 09:23 PM »

we’ll support YNAB 4 officially through 2016 and unofficially for as long as possible after that.

-Deozaan (January 04, 2016, 12:59 PM)

According to this post, "YNAB 5 Is Not For Me,"

It's supported for bug fixes until 2017.

though not sure of the source of that info. But the rest of the article is an interesting read as well (contains a short review of alternatives).

-dr_andus (January 05, 2016, 02:40 PM)

Both of those statements say the same thing, don't they?

3228

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 04, 2016, 03:05 PM »

I wrote an email to YNAB support voicing my disapproval of the new subscription model. Part of the response I received included a link to this blog post which explained why they're changing to the subscription model:

http://www.youneedab...-ynab-business-model

-Deozaan (January 04, 2016, 12:59 PM)

True to a point.  But not really.  It's a smoke screen, IMO.  There are several other business models other than the upgrade every two years model.

Another part of the response I received said:

we’ll support YNAB 4 officially through 2016 and unofficially for as long as possible after that.

-Deozaan (January 04, 2016, 12:59 PM)

That's nice... and I hope they really mean that.

3229

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 02, 2016, 06:05 PM »

It looks legit to me.  In fact, if you'd not said anything and I went there, I wouldn't have thought a second about buying it.

3230

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 02, 2016, 12:43 PM »

If you come across where that was stated, I'd be interested in seeing the reasoning.

-wraith808 (January 02, 2016, 10:22 AM)

It might have been this one: Evernote is in deep trouble - Business Insider

-dr_andus (January 02, 2016, 12:12 PM)

That looks like an indictment of the company practices as a whole.  Not the conversion to a cloud based service.  Especially with this line:

In 2012, the note-taking app Evernote became one of the first “Unicorn” startups, joining the exclusive club for private tech companies worth $1 billion or more.

That year, Evernote passed 30 million registered users, brought its total funding to $270 million, and seemed like a sure-fire candidate to hit the public market in the coming years.

What I was talking about was the conversion.  They're way past that phase.  Everything now has to do with their business practices and policies.

It still has a large user base, and as most subscription-based software companies do, it could probably improve its cash flow by cutting back on some of its investments.

Which is what I thought.  I just didn't know about the bad spending and the shotgun approach to getting apps out there.  I'd not even heard of most of them.  And the ones I did hear of- Penultimate and Skitch- I quickly dumped.

3231

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 02, 2016, 10:22 AM »

@wraith808 - not sure about the Evernote example though. The reports I've come across recently suggest that the company is in trouble (I can't remember where I saw the article but I think it suggested that they've wrongly focused on adding useless bells and whistles instead of improving the underlying product).

-dr_andus (January 02, 2016, 07:11 AM)

If you come across where that was stated, I'd be interested in seeing the reasoning.  All indications I've seen are that they're doing well... though they've introduced a middle ground in order to get a whole new class of consumers.

3232

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 02, 2016, 10:19 AM »

Anyone got a download link for the most recent, working, buy-once, non-cloud-as-a-service YNAB?

-Deozaan (January 02, 2016, 02:15 AM)

http://www.youneedab...04_4.3.656_Setup.exe

-PhilB66 (January 02, 2016, 02:30 AM)

820 is actually the latest... but I'm wary to install it.  I heard (don't know for sure) that they'd put upgrade notices in it.

http://classic.youneedabudget.com/

3233

DC Gamer Club / Alien: Isolation free with Humble Subscription

« Last post by wraith808 on January 01, 2016, 10:52 PM »

I actually subscribed to the Humble Monthly bundle for one specific reason.  It's $12 a month.  Alien Isolation is included with your subscription, and is going for $12.49 on Steam Sale.  What's to lose in that deal?

https://www.humblebundle.com/monthly

3234

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 01, 2016, 10:45 PM »

this happens so much, where are the pressures coming from?  as a person who dabbles in this sort of business, it feels like if you don't do these kinds of things (saas, bloat, etc) then you won't be able to survive.  the optimist in me wants someone to tell me that that is not the case, and there are other ways.  but i'd like to be convinced of it.

-superboyac (January 01, 2016, 10:25 PM)

I think that 40 laid out the problem in many industries which push them to it.  Certain types of software are what they are, and you pay for them once, and then don't care about them.  So, the revenue stream dries up.  There has to be some impetus for your user base to purchase continually, or you find that you're pulling your money out of a well that has a very real bottom.  You have a few options at that point. 

One is to provide features and be very responsive to your user base, so that when you release an upgrade, they'll buy.  In all realities, that's a subscription.  But one that doesn't lock the users in, and relies on a lot of work.  Directory Opus is a good example of that.  The price is high... because you're paying for years of use, and there's no real reason to come back- at least for a while.  One of the things that people say about YNAB consistently is the fact that the price is a steal.  It is.  And their reducing revenue is a result of selling it so cheaply.

The second is to provide some sort of add on service - needed, or perceived to be needed.  AV software does this.  It's not the purchase of the AV that's the big expenditure- it's the subscription over years.

The third is to take the software out of the users' hands.  SaaS.  It takes comparatively little to implement.  And you can have a steady revenue stream if your users buy into it.

I think, however, that the implementation is the difference.  Evernote did it... and for better or worse, they changed their whole business when it happened.  They lost customers.  But they continue to add value, to the point where even though I have options like RightNote and MyInfo, I stick with Evernote.

From what people are saying, not only do you have lock-in with mYNAB, it is not fully featured and half-baked in relation to the non-cloud version.  I wish them the best... but I'm not on the boat.  And I think I see an iceberg ahead...

3235

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 01, 2016, 10:12 PM »

But doesn't your bank, credit card company etc. already keep your financial information in the cloud anyway? What these cloud-based services seem to do is pull the data and aggregate it in a read-only form (i.e. it should not be possible for a hacker to execute transactions, should 'only' be able to read info in one place which otherwise might not be in one place).

-dr_andus (January 01, 2016, 08:18 PM)

There are stringent regulations that apply to their systems and their use of the information.  A vendor like this?  Not so much.  That's the difference, see?  The financial systems keep your information on their computers and on their networks.  That's not the same as the "Cloud".  Replace "Cloud" with "Someone else's computers", and see how much you trust them then...

How do PC-based apps like Intuit store your data pulled from your bank etc. accounts? Doesn't it pass (and is stored) in their cloud somehow before they aggregate it in your desktop software? I don't know, I'm asking, trying to get my head around this category of software.

-dr_andus (January 01, 2016, 08:18 PM)

That's simple.  I don't use those services.  Which was one of the reasons that I liked YNAB.  I download the data from the bank- manually- then import it into the software.  I am the middleman, and it's not stored anywhere.

So, what is there to lose and gain one way or another (using a PC-based vs. cloud-based personal finance software)?

-dr_andus (January 01, 2016, 08:18 PM)

Your financial data and security.  Because what you look at as an inconvenience, I look at as a necessary security measure.  And my wife already has access to my records through other means.  I don't need it in the cloud to facilitate that.  And if you think that only having read only access to financial information can't cause chaos... think in a little wider box.

3236

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 01, 2016, 04:52 PM »

Illegal is a bit hyperbolic isn't it?  I don't think there are any legalities that cover this type of software that they might even run afoul of unless I'm misinformed?

3237

General Software Discussion / Re: YNAB moving to a subscription model

« Last post by wraith808 on January 01, 2016, 01:19 PM »

Someone said my views on the switch well:

I think it's the cost of a cup of coffee a month but getting water in the cup that is troublesome.

I don't mind having some things in the cloud.  But my financial information?  I want it in as few places as possible.  And with all that they have access to?

I'm not a glass half-full or half-empty kind of guy.  I just think that what they're serving is piss.

Thankfully, I have never gotten into using the mobile app, so as long as Air works on the latest and greatest operating system, I'm fine.

3238

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by wraith808 on December 31, 2015, 11:10 PM »

^ Agreed!  Just watched it myself, and it's a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

3239

N.A.N.Y. 2016 / Re: NANY 2016 Release: Text Overlay Tool

« Last post by wraith808 on December 31, 2015, 09:43 PM »

Updated to register hotkey.  For now, it's WIN+SHIFT+F9 to scroll up, and WIN+SHIFT+F10 to scroll down. But I will be putting in an interface in the settings to customize that.

3240

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: TextOverlayTool

« Last post by wraith808 on December 31, 2015, 04:00 PM »

is there a way to make the noteopad editable? it would be nice to have a little transparent note sometimes.

-relipse (December 27, 2015, 02:05 AM)

I thought about it a bit... and yes, it would be possible, but not really the direction I had in mind for the tool.

3241

DC Gamer Club / Steam has a leak... sort of...

« Last post by wraith808 on December 31, 2015, 03:36 PM »

Christmas is a good time and a bad time for Steam.  They sell a lot.  But just like XBoxLive and PSN, they come under attacks by hackers trying to communicate... something.  Or maybe just to watch the world burn?

This Christmas was no different on that regard.  But Valve's failover strategy was not quite good- and gave the impression that they'd been hacked.

From: http://store.steampo...19852/?snr=1_550_552

On December 25th, a configuration error resulted in some users seeing Steam Store pages generated for other users. Between 11:50 PST and 13:20 PST store page requests for about 34k users, which contained sensitive personal information, may have been returned and seen by other users.

The content of these requests varied by page, but some pages included a Steam user’s billing address, the last four digits of their Steam Guard phone number, their purchase history, the last two digits of their credit card number, and/or their email address. These cached requests did not include full credit card numbers, user passwords, or enough data to allow logging in as or completing a transaction as another user.

If you did not browse a Steam Store page with your personal information (such as your account page or a checkout page) in this time frame, that information could not have been shown to another user.

Valve is currently working with our web caching partner to identify users whose information was served to other users, and will be contacting those affected once they have been identified. As no unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts beyond the viewing of cached page information, no additional action is required by users.

Continued at link, brought courtesy of Ghacks.

3242

Developer's Corner / Re: Ethics in Technology

« Last post by wraith808 on December 31, 2015, 03:32 PM »

Thanks!  That's really interesting... I put it on my list of things to watch.

3243

Living Room / Re: Raspberry/Arduinoe/etc. - Choosing a device questions?

« Last post by wraith808 on December 30, 2015, 11:01 AM »

Or, if you're in no hurry the C.H.I.P. computer can handle audio input/output and is cheap.

-4wd (December 29, 2015, 03:17 AM)

Recommending CHIP over Onion?  Why is that?  Just curious...

-wraith808 (December 29, 2015, 11:07 AM)

It's cheaper

Plus I haven't really looked at the audio input/output capabilities of the Onion whereas I knew that the C.H.I.P. had both with no extra hardware requirement.  To record a sound as a WAV file.  To play a sound, (WAV, OGG, MP3).

So really just a matter of seeing whether the C.H.I.P. can do the MP3 encoding on-the-fly when recording, (1GHz vs 400Mhz CPU in the Onion, 8 times the RAM, 4GB of onboard storage that can be used for buffering).  Depending on what the final recording qualities are to be, if it's for something that only requires a low bitrate, (like voice), then I would think it'll have no trouble.

It can also handle USB flash drives without requiring a hub since you can still connect a mouse/keyboard via Bluetooth.  Add a LiPo cell and you have battery backup if that's important.

I've got two C.H.I.P.s arriving sometime next year along with a HDMI adapter, something else to sit on the desk and gather dust 

-4wd (December 29, 2015, 09:04 PM)

Ok... thanks for the breakout!  I was just wondering as I knew you'd used the onion.  Mine is still in my static bag.  I have a CHIP coming too, so was wondering your reason for the preference.  They've offered to ship me a new mini dock for the price of shipping... but their cart wouldn't handle the shipping.  *sigh*.  They've also said after being sent a picture, insert the needle here... but that didn't work.  I'm getting quite tired of the back and forth on it. 

3244

Living Room / Re: Raspberry/Arduinoe/etc. - Choosing a device questions?

« Last post by wraith808 on December 29, 2015, 11:07 AM »

Or, if you're in no hurry the C.H.I.P. computer can handle audio input/output and is cheap.

-4wd (December 29, 2015, 03:17 AM)

Recommending CHIP over Onion?  Why is that?  Just curious...

3245

Living Room / Re: Raspberry/Arduinoe/etc. - Choosing a device questions?

« Last post by wraith808 on December 28, 2015, 03:24 PM »

This might help:

https://www.donation....msg393655#msg393655

-Deozaan (December 28, 2015, 02:08 PM)

Since mouser was the last post in that thread, I'd think that he'd seen it. So I'd think he was asking about personal experience of DC'ers.

I hope some of you with experience can help point me in the right direction.

-mouser (December 28, 2015, 01:24 PM)

3246

General Software Discussion / Re: backup strategy

« Last post by wraith808 on December 28, 2015, 03:22 PM »

in case the laptop gets lost or stolen or corrupted, the data will always [may] be accessible online

-kalos (December 28, 2015, 01:20 PM)

ftfy kalos ;-)

-tomos (December 28, 2015, 01:23 PM)

why? do you often hear for data losses in gmail servers for example?? even if I have the previous version of the lost data, it would be very satisfying too from nothing!

-kalos (December 28, 2015, 01:25 PM)

http://googledrivesucks.com/

http://blog.cloudhq....gle-drive-data-loss/

https://productforum...ic/drive/WPtLkVSznts

Of course, you'll find similar stories with any cloud service, honestly.  Some are holes in the service, and others are user problems.  Check them out, and do what you will.  With any, you're taking a non-zero risk.  That's the reason that people have more than one backup solution- depending on how important the files are.  And since it's your data, it's better to craft your own, whatever that entails.  People have given you options and pros and cons.  I think it's time for you to decide based on your own research at this point.

3247

General Software Discussion / Re: backup strategy

« Last post by wraith808 on December 28, 2015, 09:53 AM »

You still need to charge that pen drive through a USB port. So with which intervals do you need to charge the pan drive? And for how long? And the WiFi on it...how secure is that? (WPA-2 or better?)

-Shades (December 28, 2015, 06:13 AM)

I was giving that to him as a help, since he talked about having to connect the pen drive.  And yes, it does use WPA2 - WPA2-PSK specifically.

3248

General Software Discussion / Re: backup strategy

« Last post by wraith808 on December 27, 2015, 09:09 PM »

OK, but it doesn't really make any sense to do that, I want to save my data in case someone breaks into my house and steal my laptop! He will also steal the usb as well!

-kalos (December 27, 2015, 06:36 PM)

Not if you have it on you?

-wraith808 (December 27, 2015, 06:38 PM)

and I will plug it in every time I want to use my laptop? that's very inconvenient!

-kalos (December 27, 2015, 06:40 PM)

That's not what wraith said.

Someone can't steal the flash drive if it's with you, they can steal the laptop but not the flash drive ... thus your data is still available.

If you're going to keep the flash drive with your laptop and you're worried about it being stolen with the laptop then don't bother making a backup because you have other problems.

-4wd (December 27, 2015, 06:56 PM)

And even if you do have larger problems... I can still solve your primary objection.

https://www.sandisk....nnect-wireless-stick

3249

General Software Discussion / Re: backup strategy

« Last post by wraith808 on December 27, 2015, 06:38 PM »

OK, but it doesn't really make any sense to do that, I want to save my data in case someone breaks into my house and steal my laptop! He will also steal the usb as well!

-kalos (December 27, 2015, 06:36 PM)

Not if you have it on you?

3250

Living Room / Re: Words fail me - you'll have to read this yourself

« Last post by wraith808 on December 27, 2015, 06:37 PM »

That was so awesome, I couldn't settle on just one to convey my sentiments.

I haven't seen a 40 slam dunk like that in a while.  Thank you.  And never change.